Viktor Mora and Naccarati

Brazil’s electronic music scene is on fire, and no one can argue about that. Following in the successful and varied footsteps of the likes of Gui Boratto, Wehbba, DJ Marky and Patife, new fresh talent has emerged in the form of Viktor Mora and Naccarati. They have now firmly established themselves as leading House and Progressive House DJs and producers in their native Brazil. With the release of their debut album ‘NEXT’, a collection of their finest productions that are aimed directly at the dancefloor, they are set to write their names indelibly on the international circuit. Here they explain how to jump start your DJ career by getting yourself out there and doing your research, how they soon got to play their high octane main room sets next to Tiesto in Sao Paulo and in Rio and how David Guetta and CR2 released their tracks and got fully behind their careers.

Words : Toni Tambourine

For people who have never come across you before, tell DMCWORLD about some of your previous successful releases?

“We had a track released in 2004 by David Guetta, “Action Mandingo”. He also added the track to the soundtrack of a movie called “Jet People 2”. We also remixed for D-Nox & Beckers, Flash Brothers, Glen Morrison, Ticon and Carlos Gallardo. In 2010 CR2 released our track “601” and that hit the charts on Beatport.”

You have battled through the music industry to become successful DJs and producers. Where did you learn your craft and where did you get your first big breaks?

“We started to spin almost at the same age in our home town, Sorocaba. At that time there was no internet, and we tried to buy magazines from abroad and follow the biggest Djs. I think that our trip to London in 2000 was when we decided what we wanted to do, and started to go for it. We met the right guys around here and fortunately we were able to play all over the country.”

How would you describe your production and DJing style?

“If I have to describe it, that would be House and Progressive House, always trying to add vocals to wherever possible, but we don’t like to label ourselves too much.”

You are based in Brazil which has a huge dance music scene, tell me about the main DJs there, which are the craziest clubs and which city’s scene is the most exciting for you.

“Forbes Magazine just posted that Brazil is one of the eletronic scene’s paradises. There’s many big DJs here in Brazil that are flying our flag all over the world, like Gui Boratto, Wehbba, Marky, Patife and others. There’s also clubs that are considered among some of the best in the world, like Green Valley, Sirena, Anzu, D-Edge and Warung. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, are always a huge center and tourist trap, but the cities in the South such as Florianópolis and Balneário Camburiú, are the most exciting for me.”

You both have successful solo careers, why did you decide to work together?

“We were born at the same small city, and became best friends. We started to buy records and decided to play together since then, we were like 14 or 15 years old, and played only at weddings and sweet sixteen parties. Later, we started to produce together and even though we have our own solo careers, we wanted to keep this partnership going.”

Who are the big names who have supported your records?

“Yes! Matt Darey included our unofficial remix of Chicane feat. Bryan Adams – Don’t Giv Up on his radio show Nocturnal and Roger Sanchez played our remix of Carlos Gallardo & Juanjo Martin – Love’s Killer on his radio show, David Guetta supported Action Mandingo a lot, and we heard that Erick Morillo, Layo & Bushawacka and Steve Angello also played some of our tracks. It’s healthy out there.”

Where do you get the best reception out on tour?

“We had a blast playing at the WMC in Miami, Viktor loves Ibiza. He said it was the best crowd he ever had!

Where do you draw your inspiration from? Which tracks and DJ do you respect the most?

“We had a lot of influences in our career, such as Digweed, Sasha and Timo Maas. But the last few years, we were inspired by the guys from Swedish House Mafia. They were able to put on their tracks all of the past years that we went through. Remixes and bootlegs from Daft Punk, Underworld, Depeche Mode, New Order and Faithless.”

You have a new album that you have produced together, ‘Next’ – are you happy with result and the way it has come together?

“We are really happy with the final result, ‘Next’ put together the new and old tracks. There’s some productions from 2007, and some unreleased ones. We’re now at the top of the iTunes charts in Brazil, and that makes us really proud. But, of course, it’s our first one, and we want to get better and better… it’s just the beginning!”

In hindsight is there anything that you should have included that you haven’t, or would you change anything?

“I think so, we are trying always to get better. We always want to learn something new. You kind of have a lot to change on the tracks, specially the old ones, but this is our first album and we wanted to try and summarise a 15 year career, in 11 tracks.”

Is the album a collection of your clubs tracks or did you set out to create a specific mood for the album?

“That’s practically a club track album, since it’s everything we’ve producing since we started the work in the studio. But we wanted to make something different to the very first track of ‘Next’, something that the listener would enjoy when he put the album on his stereo. So, ‘Sky’, was produced, and it also became one of the best tracks in the clubs. We also added the club version to the digital release. So it’s a club tracks album…”

Tell me about some of the different tracks that work best for you on the album?

“Hard to say, but for us, ‘Me And You’ is the one that meant the most for us. But we think that ‘Sky’, ‘Zap’, ‘601’, ‘Your Love’ and ‘Scottish’ have the most potential.”

Where can we see you DJing this year?

“All over Brazil! Viktor is the resident DJ of one the best clubs here, Anzu Club (www.anzu.com.br), and he will host the night for a lot of big names of the world. We also have many ‘Viktor Mora and Naccarati Audio Visual Live!’ shows scheduled on the best Brazilian clubs, with our VJ, Axell. It’s gonna be an amazing year after ‘Next’…see you guys around!!!”